The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has opened more than 600 investigations into criminal homicides over the past four years.

Indianapolis is facing a crisis. It has been well documented in local media coverage, including IndyStar. It is a topic of much interest at city hall. And it is being discussed in community meetings. And in local churches. And in our homes.

It's time for that discussion to become even more serious. It's time for action. It's time for solutions.

To that end, IndyStar is launching a significant reporting project this year that will explore violence in Indianapolis. The goal of the project — we're calling it The Toll — is to peel back the layers of violence and explain why it is occurring, what is being done about it and provide the public and city leaders with information that could inspire possible solutions.

We don't expect those solutions to be simple. The factors that drive violent crime are as varied as they are complex.

Over the course of the project, we will spend time with crime victims, police officers, probation officers, prosecutors, faith leaders, social service workers, elected officials, judges, criminals, business owners, neighborhood watch groups, gun buyers, gun sellers and, most importantly, the people who live in the neighborhoods most troubled by violent crime. And you, if you've got a story to tell.

We want to explore crime from as many angles as possible. We also want to share with you what is working in other communities, many of which have had to confront their own violent crime epidemics.

This reporting effort will be led by Ryan Martin and James Briggs. Ryan covers public safety, and James covers city hall. They can be reached at ryan.martin@indystar.com and james.briggs@indystar.com — and they want to hear from you. Share with them your thoughts and, especially, your stories.

You will see a series of in-depth stories on these pages and on IndyStar.com. We also hope to work with other local journalists and organize events that bring people together. And we're very excited to announce the creation of a weekly email newsletter, also called The Toll.

This newsletter — you can subscribe at http://indystar.com/thetoll — will keep you abreast of developments that relate to public safety. We will keep you up to date on criminal homicides, but our intent is not to treat homicide statistics like numbers on a scoreboard. The newsletter will also contain information about events in the community aimed at helping neighborhoods and preventing crime. I hope you'll sign up and share your ideas with Ryan and James.

IndyStar city hall reporter James Briggs(Photo: Submitted photo)

The purpose of this project is in no way to sensationalize the violence but rather to help people understand it. We want to emphasize that there is a human toll (hence the name) to systemic violent crime. The people who lose their lives to violence in Indianapolis are someone’s child, someone’s parent and someone’s sibling. And the effects of their loss ripple across countless friends and family in our community.

The harsh reality is that violence in Indianapolis tends to occur in neighborhoods where people are often powerless to stop it. That can make it easy for people who are empowered to be tangentially aware that violence is a problem without having a personal stake in stopping it.

If we do our jobs during the course of this year, then you will have a better understanding of why an increasing number of lives are being lost each year in Indianapolis. You will know what people, ranging from elected officials to neighborhood activists, are doing to bring peace to the city. And, most importantly, you will see that violence isn’t a problem for some other person or some distant neighborhood.

It is a problem for everyone who lives in Indianapolis and cares about this city.

Alvie Lindsay is the News and Investigations Director at IndyStar. He can be reached at 317-444-6385 or alvie.lindsay@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alvielindsay